You’ve seen it hiding under a car cover in teaser images and under camouflage during prototype testing. Now, the new M5 Touring wears a different disguise. This Christmas, Santa’s new sleigh is apparently the G99, wrapped as a huge present with a festive motif. Aside from graphics with reindeer, snowflakes, and stars, the performance wagon wears many M badges.
M CEO Frank van Meel shared new images of the hotly anticipated M car on his personal Instagram account, posing next to the M5 Touring and Santa Claus himself. In case you’ve missed it, there’s also a new video with the Audi RS6 Avant competitor in BMW’s Christmas commercial for this year. The images and footage depict the speedy estate with the full production body, final lights, and the quad exhaust system.
Attached below, the video is actually more revealing since it shows the M5 wagon up close. It has an aggressive front bumper bisected by a vertical fin, flanked by massive air intakes. That separation in the middle is noticeable at the rear where the diffuser is split into two pieces. Elsewhere, the M-specific mirror caps are easy to notice, as is the two-piece spoiler on the roof where there are low-profile rails. What we don’t see is the charging port, mounted on the front-left fender.
Much like the XM, the new M5 Sedan and M5 Touring are touted as having “The Ultimate Electrified M Power” by inheriting a plug-in hybrid V8 setup from the brawny SUV. It’s the twin-turbo 4.4-liter “S68” gasoline engine working in conjunction with an electric motor for a combined output rumored to hover around 700 horsepower, if not a bit more.
You can tell by the license plate ending in “E” that this Christmasy M5 Touring is electrified. Unlike its two predecessors, the E34 and E61, the G99 will be a global model with a far greater production run. Combined, the first two long-roof M5s were assembled in fewer than 2,000 units. With the sports wagon expected to reach the United States, it’s all set to be a lot more commercially successful than its ancestors.
The German luxury brand isn’t willing to announce just yet when the new M5 Touring will break cover. Logic tells us we’ll first see the 5 Series / i5 Touring early next year, with the 700-hp family hauler to be unveiled later in 2024. G99 production is reportedly starting in November, a few months after the G90 M5 Sedan.
Source: Frank van Meel / Instagram